Beam hopping dynamically changes routing of an uplink spectrum (or a portion of it) to a downlink by a satellite. A beam hopping satellite may implement this feature in different ways and impose different constraints on the other network elements in a satellite communication system. The use of beam hopping enables the network operator to use the bandwidth and capacity flexibly across the system. For example, beam hopping may be used to decrease co-channel interference, improve frequency reuse and help increase coverage of the satellite network without having to dedicate capacity to areas with relatively less traffic.
In the prior art, although the satellite switching instants are programmable, there is no way to synchronize the satellite clock to an exact time of day. The present teachings use a closed loop feedback system to achieve and maintain synchronization of the network with the satellite switching time.